While we do not profess appreciation of the full dynamic of the political spoils system, we do not think ourselves naive about it either. We recognize that even important appointive posts sometimes go to people not because they are the best qualified but rather because the appointing authority is interested in satisfying a political debt.
But the instances where a person is completely unqualified are far and in between. Purely political appointments usually result in the selection of individuals who are at least reasonably competent. The flip side to this is that it is almost unheard of for a highly qualified incumbent not to be reappointed unless there are compelling reasons for a departure from the norm. This is especially so if the incumbent has performed well.
On both accounts, we are mystified by Governor George Pataki's refusal to reappoint Jeff Weisenfeld as a trustee of the City University of New York. It may be recalled that prior to his entrance into the business world and his initial appointment to the trustee position, Mr. Weisenfeld served early on in the Pataki administration as a senior aide and in many ways as Gov. Pataki's liaison to the Jewish community.
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Mr. Weisenfeld is widely acknowledged to have played an important role in the rebuilding of the CUNY system - no small part of that effort involved addressing the anti-Semitism all too evident on some campuses - and for that and other accomplishments merited reappointment. It is dismaying - and all too revealing - that although he has since changed course, Gov. Pataki's first choice as a replacement for Mr. Weisenfeld as a trustee of the City University of New York was a union leader who never graduated high school.
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